ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Exploring the heritage - transnational nexus: Disassembling the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 06 | URBAN CULTURES AND LIVED HERITAGE

Speaker

Dr Zachary M. Jones (Politecnico di Milano)

Description

Heritage cities undergo continuous forms of transformation – resulting from urban growth, destruction, gentrification, mass tourism, etc. Over the last several decades, there has been an increasing insertion of star architecture designed projects within sensitive heritage contexts (Cominelli & Jacquot, 2020). These transnational projects both benefit from the correlation with heritage sites while simultaneously transforming the imaginaries, experiences, and authenticity of these contexts (Van Oers, 2006). International conservation doctrines by no means forbid such projects, but rather emphasize the need for continued growth and evolution of historic cities through projects which respond to the contemporary values of their time (Lardinois, Arato Gonçalves, Matarese, & Macdonald, 2015). While initial research has been conducted on some of these projects, such as the Kunsthaus Graz (Dreher, Alaily-Mattar, & Thierstein, 2020) or the Acropolis Museum (Gravari-Barbas, 2020), there has overall been limited reflection on the heritage – transnational nexus which emerge within these scenarios.

This paper responds to this research gap by exploring the case of the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome. The Ara Pacis Museum represents the first new building in the historic city centre of Rome since WW2. Designed by Richard Meier from 1995 to 2006, the project’s development has been highly contentious, due in large part to the role of the transnational star architect. Part of an ongoing research project, this paper unpacks the complex layers of the project’s design and development within an incredibly sensitive heritage context. Assemblage theory is used to decipher the role of various human and non-human actors in generating a new socio-material assemblage within the centre of Rome. While Edensor (2011) has implemented this methodology to highlight the agency of material elements within historic structures, it has not been used to decipher the overlapping heritage layers generated within a transnational project located in a heritage site. The research reveals the multiple tangible and intangible heritage understandings and interpretations connected to the site to identify those which informed the museum’s development and those which were overlooked. It also reframes the position of the star architect in relation to the other human and non-human actors as part of the wider socio-material assemblage to provide new understandings of the project and its long-term urban effects.

References

Cominelli, F., & Jacquot, S. (2020). Star Architecture Landing in UNESCO Sites: Local Frictions and Regulations, in: N. Alaily-Mattar, D. Ponzini, & A. Thierstein (Eds.), About Star Architecture, pp. 247–266. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-23925-1_15

Dreher, J., Alaily-Mattar, N., & Thierstein, A. (2020). The Multifarious Effects of Star Architecture: The Case of the Kunsthaus Graz, in: N. Alaily-Mattar, D. Ponzini, & A. Thierstein (Eds.), About Star Architecture, pp. 153–168. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Retrieved May 24, 2023, from https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-23925-1_10

Edensor, T. (2011). Entangled agencies, material networks and repair in a building assemblage: the mutable stone of St Ann’s Church, Manchester. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 36(2), pp. 238–252.

Gravari-Barbas, M. (2020). The Challenges of Star Architecture in Historic Cities: The Case of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, in: About Star Architecture, pp. 267–289. Cham: Springer.

Lardinois, S., et al. (Eds.). (2015). Contemporary architecture in the historic environment: an annotated bibliography. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute.

Van Oers, R. (2006). Preventing the goose with the golden eggs from catching bird flu–UNESCO’s efforts in safeguarding the historic urban landscape. Cities between Integration and Disintegration: Opportunities and Challenges, ISoCaRP Review, 2, p. 12 pages.